Friday, April 13, 2007

Creative Approaches in Social Work Training


I had an opportunity to work and
study as an actor with Muriel Gold Ph.D.
in projects for two years (Stanislavski,
naturalistic approaches). Formerly the
Artistic Director of the Saidye Bronfman
Centre Theatre in Montreal, Muriel has
used drama approaches with adolescent
female survivors of sexual
abuse as well as conducting workshops with
acting teachers and social workers and family therapy
trainees. "Therapy through Drama: The Fictional Family" is a helpful
resource for those with an interest in applying progressive drama
methods in Social Work training. The step-by-step techniques take
readers through the process of developing and investigating
historical background,scene sequences, self exploratory
exercises, fictional character objectives, obstacles and dramatic
conflict scenes. This can be illuminating preparatory work for those
who want to gain an embodied understanding of both self and
client while learning new skills helpful in therapy and group work.